


180 Degrees

by capncosmo



Category: GouGou Sentai Boukenger
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-21
Updated: 2008-05-21
Packaged: 2017-10-18 02:25:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/183950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capncosmo/pseuds/capncosmo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Masumi worries, Natsuki squees, Souta laughs, Sakura fails at being aggressive, Satoru is unable to repress, and Eiji, the only one with any sense, is largely absent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	180 Degrees

If Souta had noticed how Sakura-neesan was following Akashi around almost everywhere, he wasn't talking to Masumi about it. Or Eiji or Natsuki, because they would have told Masumi about it right away. It wasn’t like Souta not to register a change, particularly when it affected the team, leaving Masumi to the conclusion that something must be up. Of course, Souta had been a bit more distant recently, and Masumi was a bit worried it had something to do with Sakura-neesan's new and more aggressive approach to Akashi; he didn’t know what had sparked it, but for some reason she was actually trying to do something about her poorly-hidden-from-everyone-but-Akashi crush. Masumi figured Souta had to be at least a little upset, if not at all surprised, by this turn of events.

In the end, he couldn't decide if he really wanted to know or not, so he settled for waiting.

*****

Sakura had tried to speak up three times now, but every time she opened her mouth, her voice refused to work. Frankly, she was disappointed in herself. As much as she'd like to delude herself that she just didn't want to interrupt Chief when he was so deeply engrossed in his work, she was really just afraid.

It was _just_ asking him for help. With something she already knew how to do. But since he hadn't seemed to notice she had become his shadow any more than he had ever noticed her crush, it was logically time to speak up. Steeling herself, she resolutely began to open her mouth and--

"Sakura-san," came a voice from behind her. Souta-kun, interrupting _again_. "Would you come look this over for me?"

With a wistful look back, she followed.

*****

Natsuki was _not_ imagining things, no matter what Ei-chan said. Chief was definitely standing closer to Sakura than normal recently. And, more importantly, Natsuki had seen something interesting: when Chief was alone in the Salon, he had been _practicing asking Sakura-san out_. Natsuki was sure they would totally get together, which made Natsuki spasm with joy. Even if Natsuki kind of felt bad for Souta-san when she saw it.

*****

Satoru was typically not one to be diverted from a goal, but since asking Sakura out made him nervous to start with, he couldn't seem to come up with a convenient excuse to get her away from Souta. And she was _always_ always with Souta. Even when she was talking to Satoru or working with him, Souta was still hovering in the background, distracting.

One more smirk from Souta when he would notice Satoru lurking awkwardly in the doorway, though, and Satoru might have to kill him.

*****

Eiji had a simple policy when it came to his teammates: go out looking for some tasty vegetables and pretend the intrigue didn't exist. It had worked out pretty well so far.

*****

It was very sudden when Sakura noticed that, though she had stuck like glue to Chief, Souta-kun had stuck to her even more fiercely. And even though she had been blatantly obvious and still gotten nowhere with Chief, Souta-kun seemed to be wooing *her*. She pretended to work while thinking very hard about how she would feel if she wasn't wrong about Souta-kun's recent actions and coming to some disturbing conclusions along the lines of her not minding.

When he caught her staring, he smiled wickedly, before turning to say something and casually touching Chief’s arm in a way she couldn’t even dream about dreaming of doing. When Chief smiled back and laughed at whatever quip Souta-kun replied with, she thought sourly he must be doing it to tease her, because Souta-kun always enjoyed a practical joke. That was all; it had to be.

*****

"Masumi," Natsuki began, and the whine in her voice let him know whatever it was, he wouldn't like it.

"Yes?" he responded testily.

"Aren't you worried about Souta-san?"

Masumi was. The second of hesitation was all Natsuki needed to see through him.

"I knew it! I think we should talk to him. Even if there’s no way to stop it, he’ll regret it if he doesn’t say anything and Chief gets together with Sakura-san!"

Masumi sighed, knowing there was no arguing with her when she was like this. "Fine."

*****

Satoru, if he was perfectly honest, harbored inappropriate feelings for all his teammates; adventuring was an intense bonding experience, after all. The name of the game was repression, which made Souta's words dangerous as well as shocking no matter how many times Satoru went over them in his head.

[Flashback]

"Sakura-san likes you, you know," Souta said out of the blue, leaning casually against the table in the middle of the Salon.

"W-what?" Satoru managed from his seated position.

"But the fact is, I like Sakura-san." His eyes flashed dangerously.

"Fine," Satoru said smoothly, not about to turn down a challenge. He swiveled on the stool to face Souta.

Souta suddenly lunged forwards, hands grasping the table on both sides and trapping Satoru. "I'm not about to lose to you," he said directly into Satoru's ear, so close Satoru could have sworn he felt Souta’s lips forming the words. Suddenly aware of how incredibly close they were, he thought that people usually had more than a scant centimeter between them when arguing. And then, abruptly, Souta left.

[End flashback]

Satoru really couldn't be blamed for the indecent thoughts of Souta that followed, even if he was going after Sakura. Just like he couldn’t be blamed for the wave of jealousy he felt watching the two of them work, however, because as much as tried to pretend it was all Sakura, as much as he would protest aloud that it was certainly about Sakura, he knew he was actually jealous of the two together. It wasn’t like it was foreign feeling or anything.

*****

Masumi nudged Natsuki awake when Souta finally decided to call it a night and left the Salon. "Souta, wait up," he called, Natsuki trailing behind rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Hm?" he asked, distracted.

"Are you really not going to do anything?" At Souta's inquisitive look, he added, "About Sakura-neesan and Akashi."

"Why should I do something?" For some reason, Souta looked genuinely confused, and Masumi wondered if maybe he hadn’t noticed after all.

"Chief is going to get away from you at this rate," Natsuki said, and Masumi whipped around to face her.

"Akashi? Souta likes Sakura-neesan."

Natsuki shook her head. "No, he definitely told me he likes Chief."

The both looked back to Souta, whose eyes glittered with mischief. They gaped as he sauntered away.

*****

Sakura was the first to snap. "What is your _problem_?" she demanded, shrugging out from under Souta's hand on her shoulder. He looked down at her, eyes sparkling and face colored with mock innocence. "Why do you keep acting like you're trying to seduce _me_?"

"Because I am," Souta answered without skipping a beat. "Is it working?"

Sakura was speechless in the face of his grin. "I _thought_ ," she began slowly, "you were going after Chief. Isn't that what you said? A challenge to see who can win him over?"

Souta just shrugged, then looked over at the doorway. Following his line of sight, Sakura's jaw dropped, mortified.

Chief, however, looked confused. "Souta, what's going on here?" he asked as he entered the room. "I thought you and I had a challenge going to see who could win over Sakura."

Both were staring at Souta, who looked like he was rupturing internal organs trying not to laugh.

"You don't like Chief?" Sakura demanded.

"You don't like Sakura?" Chief followed.

Finally, unable to hold it in anymore, Souta let out a belly laugh and doubled over. "I didn't lie," he managed after getting himself mostly under control.

There was a pause, and then, "You played us," Sakura said slowly, comprehension dawning.

"You were actually aiming for..."

Souta's smile turned into a predatory grin.

*****

For the first time, coming back late had failed him in his quest to remain blissfully ignorant of the goings-on of his teammates, and Eiji felt vaguely betrayed as he spun on his heel and swiftly exited the Salon. He decided he should probably warn Masumi and Natsuki before trying to repress, though.

If he had to have all those horrifying images of the three of them and things he _really didn’t need to know about_ , they did too.

**Author's Note:**

> When I was discussing this, twentysomething made this comment:  
> I felt like the [last scene] left a little too much to the imagination [...] while of course the obvious answer is "oh, ot3," [...] maybe Eiji being a little more "omg ick, I don't even want to the about the three of them"?
> 
> And, since I am ARTISTIC GENIUS, this EXPRET macro was born:  
> 
> 
> I'm particularly proud of my SEAMLESS subtraction of Masumi and Natsuki from the original cap.
> 
> (^^)v


End file.
